Six minutes of news from around the nation.

RFK Jr. taps eight new members for CDC's vaccine advisory panel; CO communities to join national 'No Kings' protests Saturday; End of hospital emergency abortion care rule will affect rural KY women; LIHEAP cuts could put lives at risk in rural AL, advocates warn.

Transcript

The Public News Service daily newscast for June the 12th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has tapped eight new members to join the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent vaccine advisory committee just two days after he fired the previous slate.

That from NBC News.

They report the new members include well known vaccine skeptics and others who have been critical of COVID vaccines or pandemic interventions like lockdowns.

Kennedy, a high profile figure in the anti-vax movement, said Wednesday on X that the members would convene June 25 for a scheduled meeting.

He referred to them as highly credentialed scientists, leading public health experts, and some of America's most accomplished physicians.

And as President Trump celebrates his birthday Saturday with a 45 million dollar made-for-tv military parade in the nation's capital, organizers are expecting a big turnout for alternative No King's programming in Grand Junction and some 1,800 other sites across Colorado and the U.S.

According to the event's website, protesters aimed a spotlight growing authoritarianism within an administration that has defied courts, disappeared and deported Americans, and deployed active military personnel on U.S. soil.

Indivisible Grand Junction organizer Mallory Martin says since the moment this nation was founded, we the people don't do kings.

We have a constitutional republic and we really want our president to follow the rule of law, to be respectful of our constitution, and to give people the due process that they deserve.

Trump's defenders say the president is making good on campaign promises to deport immigrants, to remake government by disrupting entrenched bureaucrats branded as the deep state, and to push back against so-called activist judges.

I'm Eric Galatis.

Next, abortion rights advocates in Kentucky are concerned now that the Department of Health and Human Services has revoked a policy requiring hospitals to provide abortion care in emergency situations.

Known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, the rule offered federal protection for the procedure, particularly in Kentucky and other red states with near total abortion bans.

Kentucky State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Tamara Weter says stripping away that protection will be catastrophic for women in rural counties who already face barriers to care.

We know in a state like Kentucky that people have already turned up at emergency rooms because of our abortion restrictions.

Doctors have been forced to wait till patients were at life-threatening situations, sepsis, hemorrhage, before they are able to provide care.

According to the National Institutes of Health, pregnancy complications are the fifth most common reason women of reproductive age visit the emergency room.

Nadia Ramligan reporting.

This is Public News Service.

As the Congress considers defunding the low-income home energy assistance program known as LIHEAP, advocates in Alabama are sounding the alarm.

They say rural families, seniors, and people with chronic illnesses could be hit hardest if this critical support disappears.

John Dodd with Energy Alabama says the program served more than 153,000 households in the state last year alone.

Many of them are home to people who are medically vulnerable or living below the poverty line.

Last year alone, in 2024, fiscal year 24, Alabama was allocated over 53 million dollars from the LIHEAP program in just one year.

He says more than 70 percent of those households include seniors, children, or people with chronic health conditions.

And in a state where rural communities already face higher poverty rates and fewer safety nets, losing LIHEAP would only make things worse.

Shantia Hudson reporting.

Next, the 2025 Kids Count Data Book by the Annie E. Casey Foundation has released its findings for Minnesota.

The report examines results for children in four categories, education, health, economic well-being, and family and community. 69 percent of Minnesota fourth graders are not proficient in reading and 66 percent of eighth graders lack acceptable math skills.

Children's Defense Fund Minnesota State Director Alicia Porter says while the state has ranked fifth nationally for the past three years due to the state's good investments in child well-being, there is room for improvement.

I think in the area of child poverty rates, I'd like to just highlight in Minnesota, 10 percent of all children live in poverty with black and hispanic children experiencing disproportionately higher rates compared to white children.

Porter notes another disparity, low birth rates.

The report indicates that although seven percent of all babies born with low birth weight, black babies faced significantly higher numbers compared to white babies and children and teens death rates and obesity numbers increased.

I'm Terry D. reporting.

Finally, June is Pride Month.

Washington's Lavender Rights Project is celebrating with a Black Trans Comedy Showcase.

This is the largest fundraiser of the year for the non-profit which provides legal and social services for black trans people.

Angel Patterson of Lavender Rights says in the wake of increased attacks on trans rights across the country, the showcase prioritizes the community's health, safety, and joy.

We are your family too.

We are your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your aunties, uncles, cousins, friends, bosses, co-workers.

We're all paying parking tickets and taxes the same as everyone else.

He says the showcase will be on June 14th in Seattle and will feature performers from Washington and across the country including T.S. Madison and Mick Stalia Bell.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

This is Mike Clifford from Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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